Fitting a Samsung 850 EVO 250Gb SSD to the Inspiron 1525 Laptop

So last time I told you about increasing the size of the RAM. Now to actually fit the SSD.

Again there are Youtube videos which show you how to do this on the exact same model of computer so there is little point in me going into great detail about that here:
Youtube video showing how to change the Hard Disk
The computer guy is fitting an EVO 840 SSD, but it seems identical to the Samsung 850 EVO 250Gb SSD I bought from Amazon.

If you watch this video you will see that the guy making it has problems getting the connector on the hard disk to make proper contact with the socket in the computer. The problem is that the SSD is slightly slimmer than the old hard disk and the SSD needs to be lifted slightly when you slide it into the slot. It is confusing because when the SSD misses the connector it still slides fully home and almost feels as if it has plugged-in. When you power-up the computer you get a message saying "No boot device available".
Our solution was cheap and simple and required a small piece of cardboard cut from the Amazon carton that the disk arrived in ... and some sticky-tape. See photo below ...

The cardboard has been folded over so there are two layers.
The photo also shows the Samsung SSD mounted in the tray which is part of the computer. It is necessary to take the tray off the old disk and fit it to the new one. There are just two small screws holding it on.
The photo below shows the disk ready to be refitted to the computer, you will see that the cardboard is on the bottom, so it lifts up the end of the disk as it slides into the slot.

The two black screws in this picture are the ones which secure the tray into the computer after you have fitted back in the slot.

So really the mechanics are very simple. However I should emphasize the need to SHUT DOWN the computer before changing the disk drive (or the memory) - don't just hibernate it. And take out the battery too - some parts of the motherboard could still be powered and also the computer could be started accidentally if a button is pressed when handling it.

The other part of the process is the "cloning" procedure. The Samsung SSD comes with a CD or DVD of software to do this, but we used some other program that my son had already used to do clone his laptop disk.  It is called Macrium Reflect Free and is a free trial.

Before doing any cloning, it is a good idea to uninstall any unused software and do a Disk Cleanup. In fact we managed to free up about 50Gb of disk space (a big chunk of that was FlightsimX which was no longer used).

We plugged the laptop's old disk and the SSD into a desktop machine that had several spare SATA interface sockets. Our attempt at using a USB to SATA lead (bought from Ebay) failed part-way through the copying procedure, we are not sure why, but it is much quicker to use a direct SATA connection anyway. So that is what I would recommend if you can get access to a suitable desk-top PC.

The performance is greatly improved - particularly the time taken starting applications. Windows Mail is on of the applications that is most transformed - I'm not quite sure why, but it checks the E-mail much faster now. (This might be related to Kaspersky Internet Security checking all the E-mail).

The computer is almost silent for much of the time ... only the fan running. It was the noise of the fan which prompted me to investigate why Windows Update used so much system resources ... but perhaps I will tell you about that on another occasion.

73
Hugh M0WYE

P.S. After fitting the SSD go into the Defragmenter and turn off any scheduled defragmentation. A Solid State Disk doesn't need defragmenting, and it may actually reduce the life of the disk. Plus ... it will be one less thing that the computer is doing "in the background"!

Upgrading the Dell Inspiron 1525 Laptop Computer

I thought I would tell you a bit about my experiences of upgrading my Dell Inspiron Laptop. I Have been using this for many years and have been very happy with it. It runs Windows Vista, which a lot of people don't like, but it has worked well for me, and, frankly, a well patched copy of Vista seems very little different to Windows 7. 

A popular upgrade for any laptop is to fit a solid state hard disk. A lot of the slowness of any computer seems to be caused by disk access. This computer has a 250Gb hard disk which is getting pretty full, a Samsung Evo 850 250Gb SSD was available for about £60, which seemed very good value. I back up onto a 1Tb external disk, but to have a "spare" disk which is a exact clone of the disk in the computer is a tempting extra benefit of performing this up-grade.

The only down-side to using Solid state disks is the limited number of write cycles that can be performed. It numbers in the 100s of thousands, and modern disks have clever software which spreads the data around on the disk, minimising wear to any particular part. When memory is low, Windows uses "virtual memory" where it uses part of the hard disk as an extension of RAM. A computer which has limited RAM will make many more reads and writes to the hard disk. Obviously this can be reduced by maximising the amount of "real" RAM fitted to the computer. So before fitting the SSD I decided to do that. There are two "slots" in this Laptop and they were both occupied with 1Gb modules. The largest size you can fit to the Inspiron 1525 is 2Gb which gives a total of 4Gb.

Access to the memory is very easy, there are eight screws to remove and then you lift off a panel on the underside of the computer. There are a number of Youtube videos about this so I won't go into great detail here. This is the one I found best: Youtube Video shows how to change the RAM in a Dell Inspiron 1525 Laptop. You can see the pair of memory modules in the photo below, together with the heat-pipe leading away from the processor and the WiFi module among other things.

I will say a word or two about my choice of replacement RAM modules, or "SODIMMs". When I looked for replacement RAM on the internet,  I found there were some websites where you punch in the make and model of your computer and the website recommends the "correct" type of module to buy. I was going to click "Buy Now" on one of these, but then thought I should check what was already fitted.

The site had recommended PC2-5300 modules, but if you look at the picture below, you can see that PC2-6400S modules are fitted.

So this worried me, and I decided to try and find out a bit more about the numbers on the modules. The Wikipedia article on DDR memory is quite useful in this respect: Wikipedia Article about DDR memory. The 6400 RAM seems to be slightly faster than the 5300, so that was what I decided to fit, even though it was a bit more expensive. Indeed, I looked for some RAM modules by the same manufacturer, Hynix, because I reasoned that near identical, but larger, modules would give the least opportunity for incompatibility. As an electronic engineer, I have sometimes encountered small differences in spec between two components made by different manufacturers that can cause annoying problems.

As you will see below, I have fitted two Hynix DDR2 PC2-6400S modules and they work absolutely fine. 

Incidentally, the "S" on the end of 6400 seems simply to mean "Small" and refers to the fact that these are laptop modules, and not the slightly larger form of SODIMM used in Desktops. Also the 2Rx8 and 2Rx16 numbers seem to be unimportant, and would appear to refer to the number of ICs on the SODIMM.

Next, I'll tell you about the Solid State Hard Disk ...

73

Hugh M0WYE

GB8WW

A nice E-mail from Ofcom arrived with a Notice of Variation attached to it. This permits operation of a special event station GB8WW for the Mills on the Air weekend, 14/15th May 2016. So we are looking forward to a bit of portable operation at the Open Day for National Mills Week at Willesborough Windmill. I found and scanned a nice picture I took at an open day in 1994 - not much has changed!

Hoping to operate the station with my good friend Peter, G8WMZ, and any other willing volunteers who can be found.

Hope to work you on the air in May. 73

Hugh M0WYE

Tim Peake ARISS Contact

Used my Yeasu FT60e and an HB9CV to listen to astronaut Tim Peake as he conducted a  schools contact with a school in Rickmansworth.
The clear sky gave a good visual pass, so pointing the antenna quite easy ... manual satellite tracking. I made an audio recording that I have edited into a YouTube video, here...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nNLsvPfyHG0

Making Plastic Objects at Home

After a seeing a comment about some rather tough Jarlsberg cheese on Facebook, I was reminded that milk was once used to make a kind of plastic - casein plastic was used for buttons and other small items. Manufacture of this material is possible at home. I turned to my copy of "Chemistry Experiments at Home for Boys and Girls" - a 1949 book by H.L.Heys M.A. (Cantab). Such publications as this would not be encouraged nowadays, but in 1949 making plastic objects in the kitchen was aparently well within the abilities of school boys and girls.  Here is the recipe...

73 Hugh

Replacing the LCD module on a Yamaha DX11 Synthesizer

So here is the problem. The LCD on my Yamaha DX11 synthesizer has faded so much that I can barely see what instrument I am playing - as you can see in the photo above. It appears that the seals around the edge of the glass panel have failed, because the fading started at the outside edges and has progressed inwards. When switched off the LCD is a peculiar pink colour, which you can see in the photo below. The old LCD is on the right, a new one on the left. (Note that I have already transferred the plastic bezel from the old LCD to the new one - it is held in place by a double-sided adhesive strip).

But where do you get replacement parts for an instrument which is probably over 30 years old?
I opened up the the synth and measured the size of the thing and then trawled through catalogues looking for similar devices. I found the Displaytech 162B-BC-BC looked to be the right shape and size, and the row of pins was in the same position along the bottom edge. The Displaytech part has 16 pins instead of 14, but I could see from the datasheet that pins 1 and 2 were connected to the backlight. It was readily available from RS Components at £7.94 (Part number 532-6379) so I ordered one.

While I waited for it to arrive I found the Service Manual for the DX11 on line, and that confirmed that, apart from the two extra pins for the LED backlight, the connections were exactly the same on the two displays.

I had to extend the wires on the LED backlight, and my attempts at desoldering the 14-pin header on the old display were unsuccessful, so I cut the wires one by one, and soldered them to the new display module. The wiring between the connector and the module is 1 to 1, but since the wires are not colour-coded (except for pin 1), it is wise to move them one at a time. In the picture below, you can see the LCD module, nestling in the middle, between the larger PCBs. It is held in place by a metal surround which is secured by a single screw.

 This picture shows the two modules side, by side, before I transferred the wires, so the old one is on the right and the new one on the left.

 The picture below shows the new module in position, with the metal surround back in in place and the LED backlight lead waiting to be connected back in the socket on the main board.

It was a great delight to see the new panel light up with nice clear text. I was expecting to have to make some adjustment to the contrast control resistor, but this was not necessary. The Displaytech module seems to be electrically very similar - even the character fonts seem to be equivalent. A thin metalic strip of the bezel is visible at the top and bottom of the LCD window, and it might be nice to black that out with a strip of black tape or even marker pen. But I couldn't be bothered to take it all apart again.

Happy Christmas and 73 to you all.
Hugh M0WYE

Apparatus for the Testing of Christmas Tree Light Bulbs

Apparatus for the testing of Christmas-tree light bulbs. I got very frustrated trying to test Christmas-tree light bulbs using a multimeter. Almost impossible to hold the probes on the little wires. I thought about making some kind of bulb-holder, but then hit upon this idea, using a wooden clothes peg. 

Copper tape is wrapped around the ends of the arms and secured with a soldered joint on the outside of the peg. Wires are attached and connected to a battery which can be conveniently carried in a pocket.

The peg is clipped across each bulb as it is removed from the chain. The battery should be chosen appropriate to the Voltage rating of the bulbs - mine are 2.4V - so a part-used "C" cell makes the bulb glow dimly, Note small screw positioned between arms of peg to prevent it closing fully, this is important as it prevents the battery being shorted when no bulb is present. 

Even though it was dark by the time I had finished it, I was still able to get the set working. The wires on some of the bulbs had become tarnished and so there were multiple"failures" within each series string of bulb. The tarnish seems to be due to age rather than moisture as the new bulbs in the pack had also gone the same way. Happily a little scraping with a craft knife soon got them going again.

Happy Christmas and 73 to you all.

Hugh M0WYE